Kotel Rabbi: Please Don't Fight Here

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Kotel and Holy Sites, issued a call Thursday not to turn the Kotel into a place of discord.

Rabbi Rabinovich reacted to a decision by the District Court Judge, to ask the Attorney General for his opinion on the ruling regarding the demand by the Women of the Wall to pray in the Women's Section in ways that are not acceptable to the Orthodox stream.

"The Kotel is the last unifying place that we have left," he said in a statement. "It is easy to set the Kotel Plaza alight with the fire of discord. It is much more difficult to find the middle ground, which will enable everyone to continue to feel that they belong and are wanted at the Kotel.

"I implore the state authorities and the silent majority, which holds the Kotel dear to its heart, to prevent zealots from all sides from turning the Kotel Plaza into a place of strife between brothers," the Rabbi added.

Judge Moshe Sobel ruled Thursday that by donning a tallit, or prayer shawl, and reading the Torah in the Kotel Plaza, the Women of the Wall are not disobeying the High Court's ruling.